Libya – US, British, and French military have all launched strikes against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
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Pentagon officials said US and British warships and submarines fired 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libya’s air defence systems in “Operation Dawn,” the first phase of military action against Libya to impose a UN-mandated no-fly zone.
Earlier, the French air force destroyed Libyan tanks and armored vehicles in the first shots fired in a UN mandated military intervention to protect civilians from attacks by Moammar Gaddafi’s forces.
A French defense ministry official said “a number of tanks and armored vehicles” were destroyed in the region of Benghazi, with initial action focusing on stopping Gaddafi’s forces from advancing on the rebels’ eastern stronghold.
Pictures of a plane shot down over Libya were originally said to be of a Libyan aircraft, but reports later said this was unconfirmed.
American warplanes, ships and submarines had prepared to launch a furious assault on Libya’s limited air defenses, clearing the way for European and other planes to enforce a no-fly zone designed to ground Gaddafi’s air force and cripple his ability to inflict further violence on rebels, US officials said.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive military operations, said the Obama administration intended to limit its involvement – at least in the initial stages – to helping protect French and other air missions.
British forces are also in action over Libya as part of international efforts to prevent Muammar Gaddafi from attacking his own people, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said.
“Tonight, British forces are in action over Libya,” he said.
“We have all seen the appalling brutality that Colonel Gaddafi has meted out against his own people. And far from introducing the ceasefire he spoke about, he has actually stepped up the attacks,” Cameron said.
Cameron said the UN-backed military action was “necessary, legal and right”.
Italian and Canadian forces were also involved in the operation.
Gaddafi’s troops pushed into the outskirts of Benghazi overnight (NZT) after a unilateral ceasefire declared by his government failed to materialize, prompting leaders meeting in Paris to announce the start of military intervention.
“Those taking part agreed to put in place all necessary means, especially military, to enforce the decisions of the United Nations Security Council,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting Western and Arab leaders.
Sarkozy said an operation supported by France, Britain, the United States and Canada, and backed by Arab nations, would continue unless the Libyan leader ceased fire.
“Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the meeting. “We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue.”
Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention, fearing western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite their current insistence they have no plans to send ground troops to Libya.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested that outside powers hoped their intervention would be enough to turn the tide against Gaddafi and allow Libyans to force him out.
“It is our belief that if Mr. Gaddafi loses the capacity to enforce his will through vastly superior armed forces, he simply will not be able to sustain his grip on the country.”
US INTERVENTION BEGINS
France and Britain have taken a lead role in pushing for international intervention in Libya and the United States – after embarking on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – has been at pains to stress it is supporting, not leading the operation..
At a news conference in Paris, Clinton said Gaddafi had left the world no choice but to intervene urgently and forcefully to protect further loss of civilian life.
“We have every reason to fear that left unchecked Gaddafi would commit unspeakable atrocities,” she told reporters. Clinton said there was no evidence that Gaddafi’s forces were respecting an alleged cease-fire they proclaimed and the time for action was now.
“Our assessment is that the aggressive action by Gaddafi’s forces continues in many parts of the country,” she said. “We have seen no real effort on the part of the Gaddafi forces to abide by a cease-fire.”
President Barack Obama announced on Saturday that he had given the go-ahead for US forces to participate in operations designed to enforce the provisions of a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Gaddafi cease firing on civilians. At the outset of a visit to Brazil on Saturday, he spoke briefly about Libya, noting the Paris talks.
“Our consensus was strong and our resolve is clear,” Obama said. “The people of Libya must be protected and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians our coalition is prepared to act and to act with urgency.”
Among the US Navy ships in the Mediterranean were two guided-missile destroyers, the USS Barry and USS Stout, as well as two amphibious warships, the USS Kearsarge and USS Ponce, and a command-and-control ship, the USS Mount Whitney. The submarine USS Providence was also in the Mediterranean.
SUPPORTERS FORM HUMAN SHIELD AT GADDAFI COMPOUND
Thousands of Libyans packed into Muammar Gaddafi’s heavily fortified Tripoli compound to form a human shield against possible air strikes by allied forces.
Fireworks erupted into the night sky and people fired defiant shots into the air at the compound after allied warplanes went into action in eastern Libya to stop the Libyan leader’s forces attacking the rebel-held city of Benghazi.
Libyans from all walks of life streamed into the Bab Al-Aziziyah compound, shouting slogans and holding portraits of Gaddafi. Loudspeakers boomed songs praising the leader.
“My mother and father told me that they (Western warplanes) would attack the compound so I came here to protect our leader,” said one 10-year-old boy, Mahmoud.
About 1,000 kilometres to the east, French fighter jets were destroying tanks and armoured vehicles to halt Gaddafi’s advance on rebel forces around their stronghold of Benghazi.
The huge Tripoli complex, which includes military barracks, was the target of a 1986 US bombing of Libya. Then US President Ronald Reagan said it was in retaliation for what he called Libyan complicity in the bombing of a Berlin night club.
The government took foreign reporters to the normally closed site on a rare visit to showcase people’s support for Gaddafi.
Inside the compound’s high olive-green walls, people danced to a song setting an oft-repeated phrase from a recent Gaddafi speeches – “house by house, alley by alley” – to a melody.
Nearby, a man watched the crowd from the back of a pick-up truck equipped with an anti-aircraft gun.
An image of a hand crushing an F-16 fighter was superimposed on the window of a house gutted in the 1986 attack. Men with AK-47 rifles stood nearby. Soldiers looked on from watch towers.
Gaddafi’s daughter Aisha paid an unexpected visit and stood on a vehicle as flag-waving supporters cheered her.
The gates of the compound, the heart of Gaddafi’s powerful security apparatus which is usually off-limits to the general public, were wide open, and people continued to stream into it throughout the evening.
“We are here. We are ready to die for our leader,” said Om Abdel Qadir, an Arabic language teacher. She said her six sons had all volunteered to fight for Gaddafi.
“Even if we do not have weapons, people will do everything they can to fight. You will see people on every street, pouring hot oil on the enemy.” Mahmoud el-Mansouri, a farmer, said people were angry.
“There are 5,000 tribesmen who are preparing to come here to fight with our leader. They had better not try to attack our country,” he said.
“We will open up Libya’s deserts and allow Africans to flood to Europe to blow themselves up as suicide bombers. … We are ready to attack embassies abroad.” Mustafa Abdelgadir, a 27-year-old man, added: “Everyone has weapons training and we are all prepared to fight.”
Gaddafi has said Western powers had no right to intervene.
“This is injustice, this is clear aggression,” government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim quoted Gaddafi as saying in a letter to France, Britain and the United Nations. “You will regret it if you take a step toward interfering in our internal affairs.”
The Libyan government blamed the rebels, who it says are members of al Qaeda, for breaking a ceasefire around Benghazi.
THOUSANDS FLEE BENGHAZI
A large plume of black smoke rose from the edge of Benghazi mid-afternoon, live television pictures showed, but it was not clear what was causing the fire.
Residents set up make-shift barricades with furniture, benches, road signs and even a barbecue in one case at intervals along main streets. Each barricade was manned by half a dozen rebels, but only about half of those were armed.
Hundreds of cars full of refugees fled Benghazi toward the Egyptian border after the city came under a bombardment overnight. One family of 13 women from a grandmother to small children, rested at a roadside hotel.
“I’m here because when the bombing started last night my children were vomiting from fear,” said one of them, a doctor. “All I want to do is get my family to a safe place and then get back to Benghazi to help. My husband is still there.”
In the besieged western city of Misrata, residents said government forces shelled the rebel town again on Saturday and they were facing a humanitarian crisis as water supplies had been cut off for a third day.
“I am telling you, we are scared and we are alone,” a Misrata resident, called Saadoun, told Reuters by telephone.
As explosions shook Benghazi on Saturday morning, rebels said they were forced to retreat from the outskirts of the city, but later claimed victory after holding back the advance.
“We revolutionaries have taken control of four tanks inside Benghazi. Rebel forces have pushed Gaddafi’s forces out of Benghazi,” said Nasr al-Kikili, a lawyer who works for the rebel media center in Benghazi, as crowds celebrated by firing guns in the air and parading on top of a tank.
A warplane was shot down over Benghazi. Opposition activist Azeldin al-Sharif said rebel forces had brought their own plane down by mistake.
Al Jazeera said there were 26 dead and more than 40 wounded in Jala hospital in Benghazi, without giving further details.
U.S. President Barack Obama has made clear any military action would aim to change conditions across Libya, rather than just in the rebel-held east, by calling on Gaddafi’s forces to pull back from the western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata as well as from the east.
“Gaddafi must stop his troops from advancing on Benghazi, pull them back from Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zawiyah, and establish water, electricity and gas supplies to all areas. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach the people of Libya,” Obama said on Friday.
THE NUMBERS
SPAIN
Spain is providing one tanker plane, one F-100 frigate, a submarine, a maritime patrol aircraft, and four F-18 jets.
The F-18s were due to fly to Italy on Saturday and could join the military action as soon as Sunday, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a news conference.
Two Spanish bases – Rota in Cadiz and Moron de la Frontera in Seville – are also available for use in the military operation.
DENMARK
Six Danish F-16 planes have arrived at Sigonella air base in Sicily. Denmark has also said it would send a military transport plane to support the intervention and will provide around 100 personnel, including pilots and support staff.
NORWAY
Norway has said it will make its F-16 fighter jets available and could provide Hercules transport aircraft to assist in humanitarian efforts.
NETHERLANDS
The Dutch government said it backs the no-fly zone over Libya and would support a military intervention if asked, but has not been asked to contribute for now.
SWEDEN
Non-Nato member Sweden is seen as possibly coming into support enforcement of the no-fly zone at a later stage.
ARAB NATIONS
Qatar and the UAE have said they will contribute a number of jet fighters, although they have limited capacity. It would likely be about half a dozen planes, sources familiar with the operation say.
Morocco and Jordan are less inclined to get involved in military action but will provide humanitarian assistance.
LIBYA
Libya’s regular army is estimated to be made up of some 100,000 troops but Gaddafi is believed to also be backed by a loyal private army that may be even bigger. Those soldiers are likely to be the main force fighting the rebels near Benghazi.
The regular military is backed by heavy artillery, tanks, warplanes and a small navy, but since the rebellion, some members of the armed forces have defected and some hardware has fallen into rebel hands.
The level of rebel strength is difficult to ascertain, but the best-equipped and -trained units – up to 12,000 men – have remained loyal to Gaddafi because they are outside the regular army structure and are commanded by family members or people in his inner circle.
Libya’s military has been undermined by sanctions and neglect. Much equipment is poorly maintained or unusable.
In Libya’s east around Benghazi, regular military forces appear to have either defected to the opposition or melted away. Citizen groups have taken up arms. But analysts say the opposition lacks command and control.
STRENGTH ON PAPER:
GROUND FORCES – Numbers: 50,000 including 25,000 conscripts.
Main Battle Tanks – 800, although many are thought to be inoperable.
Armoured Infantry Fighting vehicles – 1,000.
Armoured personnel carriers – 945.
Artillery pieces 2,421
Air Defence surface-to-air missiles – More than 400.
NAVY – Numbers: 8,000. Two patrol submarines, which might both be out of action. Three surface vessels and 16 patrol and coastal ships.
AIR FORCES Numbers: 18,000. Combat capable aircraft – 394
(A mixture of Russian and French aircraft, many non-operational or in store) French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday that only 20 were operational.
Air Defence Command has at least 216 surface-to-air missiles and 144 towed and 72 self propelled missiles. Maintenance may be an issue. Most analysts believe Libya’s armed forces could not seriously threaten outside air forces enforcing a no-fly zone.